- Jan 1 1st US college extension courses for credit, University of Chicago
- Jan 1 Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar
- Jan 1 The railway line from Germiston to Pretoria, South Africa, is opened to traffic
- Jan 2 1st US commemoratives & 1st US stamp to picture a woman issued (Queen Isabella, patron of Columbus)
- Jan 2 World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago [or 0501]
- Jan 4 US President Cleveland grants amnesty to Mormon polygamy
- Jan 6 Great Northern Railway connects Seattle with east coast
Event of Interest
Jan 6 The Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress. The charter is signed by President Benjamin Harrison.
Benjamin Harrison
World Record
- Jan 13 British Independent Labour Party forms (Keir Hardie as its leader)
- Jan 13 U.S. Marines land in Honolulu from the U.S.S. Boston to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution.
- Jan 17 -17°F (-27°C), Millsboro, Delaware (state record)
- Jan 17 Queen Liliuokalani is deposed by an American coup, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic
- Jan 17 Franco-Russian Alliance is signed
- Jan 19 Henrik Ibsen's play The Master Builder premieres in Berlin
- Jan 21 Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana)
- Jan 28 Edward Mcdowell's "Hamlet & Ophelia" premieres in Boston
- Jan 31 "Westminster Gazette" begins publishing